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Prevention of Diarrhea in Children

By Janet Pfeiffer

Back in the ’70s, there was a popular TV advertisement in Australia for Solvol hand soap. The famous catchphrase by a mother to her schoolboy son: “Wash your hands, Jeffrey … with the Solvol, Jeffrey”.

Pity any boy named Jeffrey – though he probably had clean hands and no diarrhea.

Why no diarrhea?

Washing your hands with soap is one of the simplest, yet most effective methods for stopping the spread of ongoing diarrhea.

In a recent study of mothers of children with prolonged diarrhea, the participants were asked to do the following:

The mothers were required to wash their hands with soap and water before preparing any food and eating The children were required to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water before eating and immediately after using the bathroom The results?

A reduction of 89% in the diarrhea of the hand-washing group in comparison with a control group, which paid no extra attention to hand washing.